In the last few years, a new industry has been created in the United States and in a number of other countries. This industry has been an outgrowth of the hang glider craze, which started several years ago with young Californians launching their gliders off the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The genesis for hang glider came from the Rogallo wing developed by NASA as a re-entry vehicle for the space program. While hang gliding remains a very popular sport and recreation activity, its popularity is geographically limited to hilly or mountainous regions because it is necessary to have a cliff, mountain or ridge from which to launch the glider into rising air currents.
As a consequence, the natural progression from the hang glider was to add a small engine-driven propeller of sufficient power to launch the glider, now turned airplane, from a flat terrain. This marriage between the hang glider and the internal combustion engine has resulted in the ultralight industry. U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,863 discloses one such rudimentary type of engine powered hang glider which is foot launched. The glider disclosed in this patent has no landing gear, tail, rudder or ailerons to control its flight. As a result, hang gliders of this early vintage were controlled in the same manner as conventional hang gliders; that is, the pilot had to shift his weight while holding onto a control bar to control the attitude and flight direction of the glider.
Since the first rudimentary ultralight aircraft were flown, there have been a tremendous variety of new and different designs. In most cases, these ultralight aircraft are marketed in kit form and must be assembled by the customer. As a consequence, it is of the utmost importance that the ultralight aircraft be constructed for ease of assembly as well as safe and reliable performance. In recent months, consumers have been demanding ultralight aircraft having improved performance characteristics. Indeed, the drive is to closely duplicate the performance of a conventional airplane. Thus, while the industry has been attempting to improve the flight performance characteristics of its aircraft, manufacturing costs and simplicity of assembly remain fundamental criteria of the industry. To remain competitive in today's market, ultralight kits are presently priced to sell in approximately the $5,000. range, while still satisfying the consumer from the standpoint of flight characteristics and reliability.
Accordingly, it is the principal object of this invention to provide an improved ultralight of economical construction capable of safe and reliable performance approaching that of a conventional aircraft.
It is another object of this invention to provide an ultralight of the above type which is simple and economical to manufacture and is further characterized by ease of assembly by the consumer.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide an ultralight aircraft of the above type which includes a shock absorbing landing gear which is simple and economical in construction for maintaining the aircraft in a proper attitude during landing.
Another object of this invention is to provide a simple and strong engine and propeller mount whereby engine vibrations are isolated from the remainder of the aircraft frame.
Another object of this invention is to provide a simple, economical and effective aileron construction characterized by utmost ease of assembly without the necessity of shrinking of the fabric.